TEDDY BEAR'S LAST RIDE


Diana Williams - 1976


Also recorded by: 
Nev Nicholls; Carolyn Richards & David Butcher.






I was there that day and I saw her cry
After Mama Teddy Bear said, "Ten-four and goodbye"
She turned off the old CB and just looked at me
And her heart overflowed and her tears ran free


And the gratitude shone in her face like the sun
For all the things those big tough truckers had done
A handful of change and a few dollar bills
But most of all, a little crippled boy's dream fulfilled


I guess I was Mama Teddy Bear's best friend
I lived next door to her and little Teddy Bear since I don't know when
And that's why now, before my memory grows old
The rest of this story just has to be told


I'd come over and sit with Teddy Bear while his Mama was away
And play little games to help him pass the day
In the afternoons he'd wheel that chair
Over by the radio and he'd go on the air


And one by one he'd break 'em all
I never knew a trucker not to answer his call
He'd just grin and ask me not to tell his Mom
But I was pretty sure she knew what was going on


But time has a way of taking its toll
And much too fast, Mama Teddy Bear was growing old
I watched as the silver touched her hair
And her one aim in life was Teddy Bear


And then I saw another change take place
Little Teddy Bear was slowly losing the race
I knew it, and his Mama knew it too
And there was nothing in this whole world either one of us could do


He talked less often on the old CB
And there were times when he'd hardly talk with me
He took to sitting in the window and watching the road
And the big eighteen-wheelers rolling by with their load


Finally he was too weak to get out of bed
And one day he looked at me and said
"Would you turn on the radio and go on the air
And tell all my trucker friends what's happened to Teddy Bear"


Well, the hardest thing I've done in my time
Was to pick up that mike and say, "Break one-nine
This is for all you truckers who care
I'm calling for your little friend, Teddy Bear"


"He says to tell you he misses you all
And he's awful sorry he can't answer your calls"
They all came back and joked with me
And said they'd catch him later on the old CB


They never did catch Teddy Bear again
'Cause late one night the Angel came
And the last thing he said before he died was
"Tell all my trucker friends how I enjoyed the rides"


Mama Teddy Bear couldn't tell 'em, and neither could I
'Cause each time we'd look at that radio, we'd both start to cry
The funeral was preached at the chapel
And Little Teddy Bear started on his last ride


As the procession rounded the little city square
The sounds of a hundred engines filled the air
The truckers had dropped their trailers back somewhere behind
And one by one they fell in line


They all tried to comfort Mama Teddy Bear
And it seemed like the warmth of God just filled the air
Slowly they formed a circle 'round the little grave, and a lot of big men cried
That day as they paid their last respects on Teddy Bear's last ride




(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2008)